PBL Puts the "Fun" in Fundraising

By Apurva Makote

The 8^th graders at STEM have recently finished a fundraising project for the school. The purpose of the project was to help with improving the former Dollar General space. As the students worked on the project they had to try to answer the driving question: "How will DRSS provide opportunities for families, volunteers, and other interested parties to participate in the fundraising necessary for expanding our facilities?"

They started the project by first creating a case statement about why their selected donors should donate money to DRSS. Then they created three different donation plans that potential donors could choose from while donating. The three plans were a one-time donation of a certain amount, a monthly donation plan, and a membership + monthly donation. Each group was assigned to create plans for one of the following locations:

-       IT Collaboration Space

-       Engineering and Manufacturing Center

-       3D Printing and Laser Cutting Center

-       Auditorium & Presentation Space

-       Classrooms

-       Conference Rooms

After the students created the case and donor plans they created a final product (website, video, PowerPoint, etc.) that could be shown to potential donors to help them choose which of the three donation plans they are going to use. During the project students learned about slope intercept form and how to write the equation of a line given a scenario.

“We decided to try this project this year because we wanted our first 8th grade Algebra I students to be engaged in a real-world understanding of this new content” said Ms. Vazquez, an 8^th grade math teacher at DRSS. “I hope that students can begin to appreciate the opportunities they have here at DRSS and realize that this type of educational experience is actually quite expensive. Even more than that, I also hope they realize how much support they have from the community around them - we all want what’s best for them. And, of course, I also want them to walk away understanding linear relationships at a foundational level.”

You can see their work (along with other projects) on display at our upcoming Exhibition Night on December 8, 2016, from 5-7PM. This event is free and open to the entire community.

Junior Council on World Affairs Kicks Off Year with International Career Fair

2016 Junior Council on World Affairs at Sinclair

By Maya Quale

November 18, 2016 - The Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) JCOWA (Junior Council on World Affairs) team, "JAWS COMET" (an acronym for "STEM + JCOWA") kicked off this year by going to Sinclair Community College to attend an International Career Fair. 

The Dayton Junior Council on World Affairs (JCOWA) has students not only from DRSS, but also Ponitz, Wilmington, Chaminade Julienne, and others. The event started with an introduction from a counselor from Stiver’s School for the Arts about getting ready for college. 

While there, students also had the opportunity to hear from 24 different speakers about their jobs and international travel. There was a woman from the University of Dayton who was involved with their study abroad program, a dentist from a private practice, a respiratory therapist from Kettering College, and many more. 

Students were able to hear from six people for 13 minutes each. 11^th grade student Devin Wade found it to be an enlightening experience, saying “I thought it was very interesting to learn about the various career paths.” 

International Career Day was very successful because of the knowledge obtained about the various options students can take to travel at any time in their career. Thank you to Sinclair Community College for hosting the event and the Dayton Rotary Club for giving a generous grant to DCOWA.

International Internship Opportunity Opens Up

Let us know you're coming by signing up for the Information Session Event on Facebook.

By: Rachael Stowe

Anyone who is a student at STEM, especially a high school student, knows that an internship is a graduation requirement. This internship is required to be a minimum of 72 hours and is set in place to help students gain more experience in career fields and in the real world as they move on from high school into college and then society and eventually the job market.

INTERA Technology Park is located in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina

There are many options for internships in local areas, but an exciting new opportunity has arisen for completing both an internship and a study-abroad trip in one setting. This opportunity is a trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina, specifically a city called Mostar. This is a rare opportunity to learn valuable skills in a new and exciting environment. Participants would first complete a STEMmersion in which students from Mostar would come to Dayton and create relationships with people here. Students would then go back to Mostar with the students and participate in the two-week internship experience at ITERA Technology Park. 

Students who participate in the experience will get many hands-on opportunities, including the chance to learn about CNC machining and entrepreneurship.

Students will learn many crucial and interesting skills during this opportunity, including international business. This experience would give participants an exclusive view into the ins-and-outs of international business, as well as the ability to compare these practices to those in the United States. They would also get experience working with laser cutting, 3D printing and CNC machinery. People who travel to Mostar would also get the chance to visit local colleges, explore scenery and even intern with local small businesses who call INTERA Technology Park "home."

A river runs through the heart of Mostar, and the city is a tourist destination for over 1,000,000 tourists each year.

The seeds of the internship exchange were planted over the summer, when Mr. Grieve traveled with Mayor Nan Whaley, Commissioner Matt Joseph, and the Dayton Sister City Committee to Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The experience would include STEMmersion, with the actual trip being during the dates of June 2nd-June 16 (final dates TBD). In terms of cost, the approximate cost of the trip would be around $3,000. However, the hope is that sponsorships would help bring the cost down.

There is an information session for students and parents to learn more about this experience on November 10^th at 6PM in the school cafeteria. Students who are interested in learning more can email Mr. Grieve at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

Let’s Do Some Environmental Engineering!

Students of the Environmental Engineering elective show off their projects.

Editor's Note: DRSS's Engineering Career Tech Pathway is now Powered by Vectren. Learn more about this new partnership here!

 

By Neeti Prasad, 8^th Grade

Ms. Kathryn Reilly is the teacher of the new Environmental Engineering (EE) elective for juniors and seniors. I interviewed Ms. Reilly about the main purpose of the class.

Engineering is in our school name, so you know how passionate students feel about it. For this reason, DRSS created this new elective for juniors and seniors, so that they could explore this field of engineering. I first asked Ms. Reilly about the kinds of students that she would recommend this class to, and she answered by saying that this class is great for any student who is “interested in research, problem solving, ethics, discussion, and collaboration.” If you enjoyed the Sustainability class in 6^th Grade, EE would be an ideal choice for you. 

Classes like this one can be both fun and an opportunity to learn important concepts. I asked Ms. Reilly about the major points that she would want her students to get out of the class. She said the following, “I hope students leave the class with a better understanding of some of the behind-the-scenes procedures environmental engineers handle. Behind every good investigation and cool lab there is a lot of research, discussion, ethics, and note-keeping. I also hope students will leave with a sense of awareness about the world and with a desire to do their part to make it better.”

A class at STEM is not complete without a couple of good projects and the new EE class is no exception. In the water quality unit, students first collected water samples from the drainage ditch, puddles, sinks, drinking fountains, and bathrooms. They then analyzed these water samples for potability and wrote a case study to see if the water quality was within safe limits. They completed multiple tests for 5 different categories. They conducted a turbidity test which is the test to see how clear the water is, to make sure that there are no sediments or dust in the water. Next they did a pH test, to see how acidic the water. After that the students checked to see how much ammonia, nitrates, and sulfates were in the water. If you want to figure out if the water you are drinking is safe, you know who to go to now! 

Our education lays the foundation for our eventual careers. So I asked Ms. Reilly about the impact of this class on a student’s future. “This class could give students an idea of the type of day-to-day activities an environmental engineer carries out to determine water quality, food solutions, or renewable energy.” She went on to say that this class could help narrow down possible career choices for students. 

This is a brief introduction to what this environmental engineering class is. If you would like to learn more about this class, contact Ms. Reilly.  So, a big welcome to Environmental Engineering from all of us at the Dayton Regional STEM School, and thank you to Vectren for powering our bright future!

Alumna Profile - Erin Paquette, Class of 2013

Erin Paquette, pictured here holding a red-tailed hawk, is set to graduate from Wright State this year.

It only takes a minute of conversing with Erin before realizing that she knows a lot about animals and loves teaching others about them. "I like telling people about nature and all the cool things there are in the outdoors,” she explains. “My favorite animal is the Giant Ground Sloth. I just want to clone one and name it Timothy."

Erin Paquette graduated from the Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) in 2013 as part of the school’s first graduating class. After graduating she went to Wright State University, where she’s completed three internships and is set to graduate from the College of Science and Mathematics with a degree in Biological Sciences. Erin will graduate debt-free from WSU thanks to a scholarship she received from the Wright State Research Institute (WSRI).

Erin’s scholarship required her to complete three internships during her time at Wright State, a fact that she considers to be an amazing opportunity as opposed to a requirement. Currently she is seeking out a fourth internship and has applied to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and Brukner Nature Center, the latter of which is currently considering her application. 

“My first internship was in 2014 working at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, where I helped with the Summer Adventure program by working at their day camp as a naturalist,” she recalls. While there, Erin had the opportunity to handle many different types of animals, some of which were less popular than others. She was the only one willing to handle the big snakes, like the Copperheads, for example.

Erin believes her time at DRSS helped her secure this first college internship. "I actually job shadowed at Aullwood during my high school experience (with Sarah Alverson), and so they already knew me going into the interview process at Aullwood. So aside from my experience working with kids in the past, they knew I could handle snakes and things and not run away from kids and scream."

After her first experience she completed another internship with Dr. John Stireman in the Entomology lab at WSU. There, she identified, sorted, and learned about bugs. She also helped with research, such as “trying to see if Tachnidae [a large family of what are known as ‘true flies’] lay their eggs on stink bugs, which typically result in the death of the stink bug."

Her third internship took her to Norfolk, VA, where she worked as a Program Animal Building Manager at the Norfolk Zoo, going out to schools and interacting with the public. During this time she also helped with their “Zoo Live” shows by bringing out different animals and teaching the visiting children about their unique peculiarities. “The Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches hissed more than I liked,” she admits, “but I enjoyed getting to handle so many different animals, including a Giant African Millipede, California King Snakes, chickens, and Tenrecs [a small mammal found in Madagascar].”

Erin believes these internships have helped round out her college experience and will be helpful as she seeks to find a job. The experiences have also helped her identify possible next steps after college, which are plentiful. “I’m going to try and go to grad school in the U.K.. I’m currently looking at the University of Sterling, Bristol and Anglo-Ruskin. After that I’d love to work in animal care. I’m also considering teaching English in China for a year,” she explains.

Looking back to her time at DRSS, Erin believes that her Advanced Biology class prepared her the most for her coursework, because “it was half high school and half college, and it was largely self-directed. We had to set up our own schedule, learn how to take notes, and practice different study skills for college.”

"The culture of DRSS has also prepared me for my future career," she adds, explaining that, "It’s just so culturally DRSS to learn how to communicate and present well. I didn’t like doing presentations when I started high school, but it’s very important when you’re doing outdoor presentations to the public, because you don’t have slides. You just have your brain. And interesting facts about animals and insects.”

Wherever Erin ends up after graduation, it’s clear that her future is bright, (and full of animals)!

Student Stock Market Challenge is Serious Fun

11th graders hard at work checking the value of their portfolios as they participate in the Ohio Stock Market Challenge.

Recently, eleventh graders taking Mr. Nuñez's economics this semester have been participating in the Ohio Stock Market Challenge, a program organized locally by Wright State University's College of Business. 

Devin Wade, an economics student, summarizes the project in an interview: “The Stock Market Challenge is using our understanding of the market from class to exchange stocks as a group.” Devin is just one of the students taking economics and participating in this 10-week project. For this project, each group was given an amount of $100,000; this of course being fake money. However, with this money, groups could invest in a simulated stock market. These stocks on the Ohio Stock Market Challenge mirror the actual stock market.

Some students, such as Devin, visit the website nearly six times a day, always preparing for the stock market to crash. Devin says the most frustrating part of owning stocks is that sometimes his group invests in companies, such as NetGear, thinking it will rise when it doesn’t. This has a negative impact on their ranking within the class, region, and their division. 

Students all over the state are currently participating in this Stock Market Challenge. Overall, there are 656 groups currently competing to be number one. What happens if you get number one? A selective few will get the chance to go to New York to see the actual stock market.

Students in Mr. Nuñez’s class also have something to work towards. Besides this being a highly-weighted project, the group who comes in first place out of all the groups currently taking economics will get a $25.00 visa gift card per person. This gives extra motivation to students, while also helping them understand the stock market. 

Points are awarded for the following project requirements: 

• 20 points goes to actively tracking their portfolio.
• 20 points goes to creating another portfolio representing a “buy and hold” approach. According to Investopedia, “Buy and hold is a passive investment strategy in which an investor buys stocks and holds them for a long period of time, regardless of fluctuations in the market.” 
• The next 20 points goes to students developing their own trading strategy throughout the experience. 
• Another 20 points goes to the essay, set to be written at the end of the quarter. This essay asks students to reflect on whether the active investing or buy-and-hold strategy is better. 
• 20 more points go to group collaboration.

When asked if he wished he had had projects like this while he was in high school, Mr. Nuñez responded, “Yes, absolutely. With economics, a lot of it can be just looking at charts, figuring out demand versus supply, and reading over economics theory. That’s just not a fun and engaging way to learn, and I wish that the classes that I took in high school and college would have engaged me like this project does.” 

Dylan Flippo, an eleventh grade student says, “This project definitely helped me learn because I am a very visual learner, along with a lot of people I know in my grade. Being able to compete in the Stock Market Challenge and experience it is really helping me better than just learning from a PowerPoint.” Devin agreed, adding, “I think this project definitely helped me learn because I get to see in real dollars [stock exchange numbers] how useful tactics of buying and selling are.” 

When also asked what DRSS quality Dylan is using the most during this project, he responded with, “The quality I am most using is persistence. There were so many times where our balance went so low, and we had to use persistence to keep trading stocks and staying strong. The hardest parts was during the trading periods.” The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. every day. 

Devin Wade says that the quality he is most using throughout this project is communication. “I am using communication to consult my group on which stocks to buy or sell.” Buying and selling during this project is a crucial key to having a high ranking.  Most groups follow the “buy low, sell high” rule. What this means is that when a company has just crashed, or is crashing, they buy shares. As that company starts to recover and go back up, they sell their shares. This can create quite a large profit for students. However, if shares are held on too long, the company can crash again, leaving the return negative. 

 “This project was meant to be highly collaborative, highly stressful, and fun. Students so far seem to be really enjoying watching their stocks go up and down throughout the school day,” says Mr. Nunez. Taryn Hughes, another eleventh grade student says, “I am having the best time during this project. I get to work with my classmates and learn skills I will need for the future.”

LexisNexis Visits DRSS for Power Lunch

Representatives from LexisNexis visited DRSS on Tuesday, 10/18/16, to profile some of the careers available to students locally in the tech sector.

Kettering, OH, 10/18/16 - Learning about local career opportunities that exist within a large international business is not something students have the chance to do everyday, but on Tuesday DRSS students did just that.

This week, employees from LexisNexis, an internationally-recognized provider of legal, government, business, and high-tech information sources, visited DRSS to meet with students to participate in its Power Lunch program. 

During their visit, representatives from the LexisNexis Managed Technology Solutions and Customer Support divisions sent a team of representatives to profile some of the career opportunities available through their organization’s corner of the tech sector.

Students then had lunch with the presenters, where they had the opportunity to ask them about how they got to where they are today in their careers, what they like and dislike about their jobs, and much more. 

Jackie Anderson, Associate Business Relationship Manager, believes that these visits benefit LexisNexis as well, explaining that, "No doubt, some of the student participants will be innovating right here at LexisNexis in the not too distant future."
 

Community Outreach Director, Arch Grieve, noted the importance of partnerships like these, explaining that, "This visit from LexisNexis is an incredible opportunity for our students to actually interact with individuals who have 'made it' in their careers. The ability of our students to actually sit down, each lunch with them, and ask them how they got to where they are today is huge. We're extremely grateful to the folks at LexisNexis for their support not only of our Power Lunch program, but also for their participation in our job shadow program, their hosting of students for internships, and their participation in our annual College & Career Fair program."

Thank you to everyone from LexisNexis for coming to speak to our students today and helping them understand the many amazing career opportunities that exist here in Dayton!